


Midnight Consolation

by HopeFeather



Category: Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Genre: Alice sad, Angst, F/F, Give her love and support, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-25 22:13:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20033176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeFeather/pseuds/HopeFeather
Summary: Alice struggles to overcome her fear surrounding Masquerade. Runo does her best to help.





	Midnight Consolation

“Ability card, activate.” Hydranoid’s G-power skyrocketed, easily dwarfing that of the Haos Tigrerra. A roar of triumph from the darkus bakugan tore through the air, earning only a satisfied smirk from Masquerade. He held back on the kill order for a few precious moments, relishing the look of despair on the face of the brawler opposite him.

“Tigrerra, no…” This blue-haired girl had been a thorn in his side for so long, and with her down he’d be one step closer to defeating the Battle Brawlers. She was all out of ability cards, nowhere left to run. She watched her bakugan struggle to its feet, clawing at the gate card beneath as Hydranoid toyed with his prey, knocking it back down again and again. Then her distraught gaze found its way across the battlefield, landing on Masquerade. “Alice, please stop this!”

He froze. Beneath the mask, eyes widened as for just a second he lost his composure. For just a second, he could feel Alice fighting for control within. He - no, She felt her eyes start to water, tears drip down her face, hidden behind a mirrored visor where Runo couldn’t see her pain. She was forced to watch, a prisoner in her own body as Masquerade easily maintained control.

“Finish it, Hydranoid.” The voice was not her own, cool and clear despite her pain on the inside. She couldn’t bear it as Hydranoid flung Tigrerra into a portal straight to the Doom Dimension, and Runo wailed in anguish.

————————

She was shaken awake, startled to open her eyes and find Runo’s face right in front of her own.

“Alice! It’s alright, I’m here.” The tight grip on her shoulders was released, only for Runo to pull her into an even tighter hug. One that Alice gladly accepted, able to feel those tears still running down her cheeks and the way her body shook in terror. “You started crying out in your sleep and I didn’t know what to do. What happened, are you okay?”

“I-I...” She struggled to find her voice, sucking in a deep breath and squeezing Runo for support as she tried to ground herself. “I’m fine, I think. Just… Another nightmare about him. I-is Tigrerra okay?”

“Tigrerra’s fine, you didn’t hurt her, I promise. You haven’t hurt anybody.”

“That’s… That’s good.” She says with a shaky sigh of relief.

“If I may say Lady Alice, I think we should be more worried about your wellbeing.” Tigrerra’s composed voice piped up from the other side of Runo’s bed. Alice opened her eyes, squinting a little through the blur of tears to see the haos bakugan’s ball form happily sat on the bed of Runo’s doll house.

“Yeah, she’s got a point.” Runo pulls back just a little so they can look at each other, and Alice thinks that the way she’s kneeling on her mattress and bending over the edge of the taller bed Alice occupies to reach her can’t feel great. She disengages from the embrace, just to scoot backwards against the wall and pat the space she’s made. Runo clambers up and lays beside her, slipping an arm around the ginger’s waist in an attempt to comfort her.

“You’ve been having even more of these nightmares lately…” Runo muses with a frown. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think so.” Alice sighs. She nuzzles into the crook of Runo’s neck, hiding her face in the comfort of her girlfriend’s embrace. “I sometimes worry it’s Masquerade trying to get to me - That it means he’s going to take over again.”

“You’ve been you for ages, I don’t think he’s getting control again.” Runo offers an awkward, small smile in hopes of offering some encouragement. “But if he does, I’ll smack him until he gives up and you come back. Sound good?”

That at least gets a tiny laugh from Alice, though her face falls back into a frown soon after. “I just wonder if you’d all be better off without me. If I weren’t here, there wouldn’t even be a chance that Masquerade could hurt any of you.”

“Don’t talk like that.” Runo snaps, and Alice flinches a little. The bluenette hesitates, before trying again with a slightly softer tone. “Even if Masquerade comes back, it’s a small price to pay for having you around Alice. You’re our friend, not just some carrier for that jerk. We all love you way too much to see you as anything less than the smart, kind, amazing person you are. Myself especially. So don’t ever think we’d be better off without you, because it’s just not true.”

Words can’t express how grateful Alice is. She’s sure she doesn’t deserve forgiveness after what she’s done, and certainly not the wonderful friends that continue to give it to her despite everything. Her only hope is that Runo can understand that, as Alice says nothing, only squeezes her girlfriend a little tighter. 

A hand stroking her hair is all the answer she needs.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope y’all enjoyed. I know this fandom is basically dead, but I hold this show dear from my childhood, and I have a lot of feelings after rewatching it recently.
> 
> If I write anymore it’ll probably just be season 1 stuff since I wasn’t super fond of New Vestroia so I stopped watching about 20 episodes in.


End file.
